


Why prophecy sucks and you should never write one

by Metabird (wheatear)



Series: Approaches to storytelling [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Destiny, Episode: s04e17-e18 The End of Time, Essays, Gen, Meta, Nonfiction, Prophecy, Special Protagonist, Tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 14:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23006134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheatear/pseuds/Metabird
Summary: Prophecies suck because they're a lazy way to drive plot and make it matter. (I say, glancing at my favourite book series which, yes, hinges around a prophecy...)A meta essay on the pitfalls of prophecies.
Series: Approaches to storytelling [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1653421
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Why prophecy sucks and you should never write one

**Author's Note:**

> This is a piece of meta I wrote 10 (!) years ago, which I am archiving for the March Meta Matters Challenge. Don't take the title too seriously, I enjoy several canons that involve prophecies but still...

Dear God, I hate prophecies.  
  
I'm being totally hypocritical here because some of my favourite books include prophecies and I loved Ten's swansong in _Doctor Who_ even though it hinged around a prophecy. But mostly I like these things in spite of the prophecy, not because of them.  
  
Because the thing about prophecies? They're cheap and lazy. They're easy foreshadowing. Haven't got a valid reason for your protagonist to do what they need to do in order to get the ending you want? Give them a prophecy! The author might as well just turn up in the pages and say, "Hey, protagonist. Uh, you're supposed to do this and this and this, so... get on with it, will you?" It's unsatisfactory in terms of character because the characters aren't acting purely on their own motives. They're literally being pulled along by the prophecy, puppets being manipulated by the author-god.  
  
They're also a lazy way to make the characters seem *special* by being the chosen ones. No, screw that. I want to see the characters being awesome on their own merits, not because they've been Chosen to fulfil a great Destiny. Again, it's Word of God descending on the story to tell us how important this apparently ordinary character is. Why? We know the character is important by virtue of them being a major character in the plot. Don't ram it down my throat.  
  
And related to that, it's also a ham-fisted way of making all the events in the story seem extra *special*, simply because the author has come in early to give us vague hints to the plot. There's a prophecy, so it must be important! This is either a way to make the plot seem bigger than it really is, or if the plot is big enough, an unnecessary addition. Once again, it's clumsy foreshadowing that Big Important things are going to happen.  
  
What is it about all those things which is so annoying? It's the presence of the author. We all know that the characters don't have a choice in what's going to happen to them. That's the choice of the author telling the story. And we all know that something is going to happen that changes their lives, otherwise there wouldn't be a story to tell. Sometimes, like before Ten's regeneration in _Doctor Who_, the audience knows in advance what's going to happen to a particular character. (They just don't know how.) A prophecy is simply a way for the author to step in and tell the characters the same thing. Prophecy is author intrusion at its worst.  
  
_Harry Potter_ is an easy example. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I love _Order of the Phoenix_. It's one of my favourites in the series. But... I hate that conversation between Dumbledore and Harry at the end. What happens? Dumbledore recites a prophecy that basically tells Harry he is destined to fight Voldemort.  
  
What was the point?  
  
It's not exactly an amazing revelation, for a start. We know that Harry is going to fight Voldemort in the end. We don't need Rowling to tell us. In terms of character, what does it add? Nothing. Does Harry really need another reason to fight Voldemort? Does he really need to be told that? Doesn't he have enough of his own motivation already? Harry's reaction to this sort of mirrors my own feelings: he doesn't like the idea that he's forced to do it, that it has to happen.  
  
Rowling is a good storyteller and she manages to make this acceptable by making it a point of Voldemort's character that he takes prophecy seriously and thus brings about his own downfall. There's also the point that Dumbledore makes, about Harry choosing for himself and not because of the prophecy, which simultaneously had me going "Yes! Exactly! Harry's got his own reasons to fight Voldemort!" and "Seriously? Well, what's the point of the prophecy then?"  
  
But I still think it weakens the story. The prophecy had to be contrived in order to make Voldemort attack Harry as a baby - what other reason would he have? It's also the only reason Dumbledore has to essentially train Harry as a child soldier. But it's unnecessary in every other way, and reduces Harry to yet another of those Chosen ones when he didn't need to be. Why can't Harry be awesome on his own merits?  
  
Stop puncturing canon, authors. Let the story flow from the characters and not from Word of God.


End file.
